Pump for dispensing liquid or semi-liquid or semi-solid food products and machine comprising said pump

ABSTRACT

A pump for dispensing semi-liquid food products, which comprises an inlet opening, an outlet opening, a dispensing path between the inlet opening and the outlet opening, a rotor for pushing the product along the dispensing path, and an airtight chamber, which is interposed between the inlet and outlet openings and coaxially contains the rotor; the dispensing path is defined by the cyclically choked gap formed between the outer periphery of the rotor, equipped with three projecting and angularly equidistant lobes and the inner periphery of the chamber, which is elastically deformable.

This application claims priority to Italian Patent Application 102017000031729 filed Mar. 22, 2017, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.

This invention relates to a pump for dispensing liquid, semi-liquid or semi-solid food products and a dispensing machine comprising said pump.

More specifically, this invention relates to the patisserie, ice cream and delicatessen sectors and relates to a pump to be used in machines intended for making and/or dispensing liquid, semi-liquid, semi-solid food products, such as, for example, ice creams, whipped cream, creams, chocolate, yogurt, sorbets and the like.

Generally speaking, such machines comprise a containment chamber for the product to be processed, at least one dispensing tap positioned on the lower front of the chamber.

According to known methods, the product to be dispensed undergoes a thermal treatment which is generally performed by means of electrical resistors and/or a refrigerating system.

The product is thus processed both mechanically, by means of the stirrer, and thermally, by means of heating and/or cooling units.

The processing chamber is usually fed by the operator through a feeding container above.

In some machines of the type described above, product dispensing through the tap is guaranteed by a peristaltic pump, which is controlled by the operator by means of a control located on the front of the machine.

The pumps used in these machines require frequent cleaning operations to prevent the proliferation of bacteria, especially inside the pumping pipe, where product residues easily get trapped.

Normally, cleaning operations involve complete disassembly of the pump and its thorough washing. However, such cleaning operations are quite laborious and time-consuming.

A requirement particularly felt in the sector in question is that of providing a pump which is able to operate particularly effectively with creamy or semi-solid products (such as, for example, creams, chocolates, etc.) having a very high density, and which at the same time is able to reduce the need for cleaning/maintenance.

One aim of this invention is, therefore, to meet the above requirement, that is to say, of providing a pump able to operate particularly effectively with creamy products (such as, for example, creams, chocolates, etc.) having a very high density.

Another aim of this invention is to provide a pump for dispensing liquid, semi-liquid or semi-solid food products that is more easily and rapidly sanitizable than what is provided in the prior art.

Another aim of this invention is to provide a pump for dispensing liquid, semi-liquid or semi-solid food products that is particularly simple and an alternative to those in the prior art.

These aims are fully achieved by the pump according to this invention as characterized in the appended claims.

The technical features and advantages of the invention are more apparent in the following description of a preferred but non-limiting embodiment of it. The description refers to the accompanying drawings, which are also provided purely by way of non-limiting example and in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a pump made according to this invention, in its intended position in a machine for dispensing liquid or semi-liquid or semi-solid food products;

FIG. 2 is a different exploded view of the pump of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are two perspective views showing opposite sides of the pump of FIG. 1, fully assembled; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are two views, respectively front and perspective, of several components, assembled, of the pump of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, the numeral 1 denotes in its entirety a pump for dispensing liquid, semi-liquid or semi-solid food products.

In the example illustrated, the pump 1 is mounted in a machine 2 that dispenses liquid or semi-liquid or semi-solid food products.

The pump 1 may be similarly applied in other machines in the patisserie, ice cream and delicatessen sectors, for example for dispensing whipped cream, creams, chocolate, yogurt, sorbets, chocolate and the like.

The following is a description of a machine 2, provided by way of example only and without limiting the scope of the invention.

The machine 2 comprises a container 3 for containing the product to be dispensed (located inside a refrigerated chamber), a dispensing pipe 4 (preferably located on the lower front of the container 3).

Preferably, the container 3 is of the deformable type.

According to known methods, the product to be dispensed undergoes a thermal treatment which is generally performed by means of a refrigerating system, in order to preserve the product in food safety conditions.

Product dispensing through the pipe 4 is guaranteed by the pump 1, which is controlled by the operator, for example by means of a button 5 located on the front of the machine.

The pump 1 comprises an inlet opening 6, which must be engaged in the tap 4, an outlet opening 7, which constitutes the opening from which the product required by the operator comes out, and a dispensing path P between the inlet opening 6 and the outlet opening 7 (FIG. 5).

The pump 1 also comprises a rotor 8, for pushing the product along the dispensing path P, and an airtight chamber 9, which is interposed between the inlet opening 6 and the outlet opening 7 and contains (coaxially) inside it the rotor 8.

The rotor 8 is electrically driven by a motor (not illustrated), which is operated using a control 5 (said control may be a physical pushbutton or a touch screen or a command issued in any other way).

The chamber 9 is externally enclosed by two rigid half-shells 10 and 11 which are sealedly coupled to each other (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The half-shells 10 and 11, in their coupled position, house two facing, C-shaped elastomeric elements 12, which delimit a substantially cylindrical central cavity and which define the (elastically deformable) inner periphery 13 of the chamber 9, which is sealedly engaged by the outer periphery 14 of the rotor 8 (FIGS. 5 and 6).

The two elastomeric elements 12 are identical to one another and are housed symmetrically inside the half-shell 10 which, as shown more clearly in FIG. 2, is cup-shaped.

The above-mentioned openings 6 and 7 are made in the half-shell 10.

The dispensing path P is defined by the gap formed between the outer periphery 14 of the rotor 8 and the inner periphery 13 of the chamber 9.

The outer periphery 14 of the rotor 8 has three lobes 15, formed by three protruding portions 15 which are angularly spaced at 120° from each other, and which define a prismatic element with a triangular cross section (preferably equilateral and rounded).

The three lobes 15 are sized to sealedly and rotatably engage each elastomeric element 12.

Differently to a common peristaltic pump, in which the dispensing path P extends inside a pipe that is cyclically choked in order to push the product from the inlet opening towards the outlet opening, in this case the path P extends inside the chamber 9, between the outer periphery 14 of the rotor 8 and the inner surface of the element 12 which is reached in sequence by the lobes 15 of the rotor 8 during the rotation of the latter.

For example, for an observer looking at FIG. 5 and considering a clockwise rotation of the rotor 8, the path P is defined by the cyclically choked gap formed between the rotor 8 and the elastomeric element 12 illustrated on the right.

Therefore, it is the lobes 15 that sealedly engage the inner periphery 13 of the chamber 9 in order to cyclically choke the gap through which the product is dispensed.

In other words, the pump 1 operating concept is similar to that of a peristaltic pump, but it has the advantage of being easy to disassemble into easily washable parts.

Moreover, advantageously, the pump 1 is particularly adapted to moving food products characterised by a higher density.

Finally, it should be noticed that when the rotor 8 is stationary, in any position, there are always two lobes 15 which sealedly press on the corresponding elastomeric elements 12, thereby preventing unwanted product discharge and protecting the chamber 3 from possible product oxidation phenomena.

The invention described above is susceptible of industrial application; It can be modified and adapted in several ways without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept; moreover, all the details of the invention may be substituted for technically equivalent elements. 

1. A pump for dispensing semi-liquid food products, comprising an inlet opening, an outlet opening, a dispensing path between the inlet opening and the outlet opening and a rotor for pushing the product along the dispensing path; the pump being wherein it comprises an airtight chamber interposed between the inlet and outlet openings and contains the rotor; the dispensing path being defined by the gap formed between the outer periphery of the rotor and the inner periphery of the chamber; the inner periphery of the chamber being elastically deformable and the outer periphery of the rotor having at least one protruding portion adapted to sealedly engage the inner periphery of the chamber in order to cyclically choke the gap.
 2. The pump according to claim 1, wherein the chamber is externally enclosed by two rigid half-shells which are sealedly coupled to each other.
 3. The pump according to claim 2, wherein the half-shells house two facing elastomeric elements which delimit a substantially cylindrical central cavity and which define the elastically deformable inner periphery of the chamber which is sealedly engaged by the outer periphery of the rotor.
 4. The pump according to claim 3, wherein the two elastomeric elements are C shaped.
 5. The pump according to claim 3, wherein the two elastomeric elements are housed symmetrically inside one of the two half-shells.
 6. The pump according to claim 3, wherein the outer periphery of the rotor has three protruding portions, the three protruding portions being sized to sealedly and rotatably engage each elastomeric element.
 7. The pump according to claim 6, wherein the protruding portions are angularly spaced at 120° from each other.
 8. The pump according to claim 6, wherein the protruding portions define a prismatic element with an equilateral, rounded, triangular, cross section.
 9. The pump according to claim 3, wherein the two elastomeric elements are, in use, spaced more at an inlet region than they are at a product outlet region.
 10. A machine for dispensing a liquid or semi-liquid or semi-solid product, comprising: a container for containing the liquid or semi-liquid or semi-solid food product to be dispensed; a pump according to any one of the preceding claims; a dispensing pipe adapted to connect an outlet of the containment container to an inlet of the pump.
 11. The machine according to claim 10, comprising a refrigerated chamber which houses the containment container. 